 |
| Perfect Photo: SXSW |
In British director and co-writer Millicent Hailes’ dystopian drama Perfect, shot by cinematographer Ksusha Genenfeld, the world has been devastated by a contaminated water supply. Kai (Ashley Moore), homeless and living out of her car, survives day-to-day. There appears to be no hope, until she is led, by fate it seems, to a hidden lake whose water is pure.
Among the band of misfits Kai encounters at this secret utopia is the mysterious and pregnant Mallory (Julia Fox). The pair stir one another’s physical and emotional desires, and begin an intoxicating relationship. But as Kai learns more about Mallory’s past, their relationship and the utopia itself are threatened by what she discovers.
Perfect is Haile’s feature début. Her previous work includes music videos for various artists and bands, including Terror Jr., Young Thug, Flecher and Mannequin Pussy.
Genenfeld shot Travis Stevens’ folk horror A Wounded Fawn, Angela Gulner’s horror The Beldham and Dina Burlis’ rhythmic gymnastics documentary Breaking Boundaries. She has also directed the documentary short, Upcycle, and has shot music videos for Tayler Jade and Joshua Bassett, as well as shooting a number of shorts for other filmmakers.
In conversation with Eye For Film, Hailes and Genefeld discussed the filmmaker and director of photography’s dynamic, the film’s visual language and musical influences, layers of consciousness, and more.
The following has been edited for clarity.
Paul Risker: Why filmmaking as a means of creative expression? Was there an inspirational or defining moment for you personally?
Millicent Hailes: I've always been interested in film, and it seemed like now was the right time to work in the medium. I'd been directing different things leading up to this, and I suppose just having the right story resonated with me. And making sure that when I did do something, that it was focused on something that was important to me. That's why it's all come about quite nicely.
Working with a lovely team and making friends along the way, especially with Ksusha, has felt like an important moment in my life.
Ksusha Genenfeld: I've always been amazed by visual mediums, and of course, growing up, I used to watch so many films. And as a child actor, being on sets a lot, I have always been in this movie world. Then, being an actor for so many years, I started to slowly realise that I wanted to be behind the camera creating images. That's what led me to becoming a DP [director of photography].
I’m so thankful for that because I got to meet Millicent and make this movie with her. It was such an important film for both of us, and we got to create all these friendships.
You are always looking for and trying to find your collaborators who really understand and support you and your vision. I feel like I definitely found that in Millicent, which has been such a joy.
PR: What are the core dynamics in the director and DP’s relationship?
MH: It’s such a special and important one. One can't work without the other. Ksusha and I really trusted each other. I certainly trusted Ksusha’s opinions on how things should look, and the best way to shoot something, because she has that experience, and she also has great taste. And I wanted to be able to work with somebody that I could bounce ideas off and somebody that might have a different perspective, and might say, “Well, how about this?” or “That could be a little more interesting.” She was somebody that wasn't afraid to speak up.
KG: Something that we talked about very early on was that it's important for me to really understand the vision and the vibe of the film and just bring that to life. Collaborations between a DP and a director can all be so different. But with this one, I just wanted to do the script and its world justice by making sure that the way we feel about the film when we watch it is tonally what Millicent was going for.
A thing that I loved about our collaboration was the fact that it was a safe space where we were able to throw crazy ideas out there, without being afraid of not knowing terminology or how to say certain things. For example, “I don't know what this piece of gear is called, but I want to make it feel this way.”
It’s my job to interpret the vibe and make it into more of a technological language. And the best cinematography supports and doesn't take too much from the film. If the first thing somebody says after watching it is, “Oh, that was beautifully shot”, then I feel like we didn't do a good job, because that means the cinematography took a little bit away from the film. So, that is really important to me as a DP.
MH: But no, as a director, that's what I want, because it's such a huge part of the storytelling. It has to look and feel right, and I would be happy if people walked away, and it was the first thing they said [laughs].
PR: Simultaneously we will be immersed in the world of the characters, and aware that we are watching a film. This frames cinema as an out-of-body experience. With that in mind, is a film, including its cinematography experienced across different levels of consciousness?
KG: I want the images to make the audience feel something, but the choices you're making should be more on the subconscious level rather than, here it is, look over here or look over there.
We did a lot of the former kind of cinematography in this film, especially with the relationship between Kai and Mallory, because at the very beginning we really leaned into connecting them in scenes by doing over-the-shoulder shots and close-ups to create that intimacy. And as the film progresses and their relationship starts to fall apart a little bit, we begin to use different framing, where everything is clean coverage. So, if it's a wide shot, they're far away and far apart.
MH: These things we are trying to do, might not be something that you would notice right away, but hopefully it will be felt.
KG: And felt on a subconscious level because I think audiences can really feel that. I'm definitely not someone to make something that's very on the nose. Audiences are smart, and they do feel the presence of the camera when they’re watching something.
PR: What was the genesis of the film’s story?
MH: The film boils down to community and Kai becoming closer to and feeling seen by Mallory. It’s also about Kai’s other personal relationships, where she becomes close to and feels seen by the misfits in the town felt that then become her family. It was interesting to work in this space that was about what the personal looked like between both of these groups. And again, if we're talking about cinematography, we use that as a tool to play off these different vibes.
KG: In creating that space, Millicent and I were both drawn to long shots where you don't really cut away. Instead, you stay with the actors/characters, and live with them in the moment, rather than relying on other shots to cut away to — some of our emotional scenes take that approach.
Speaking about the personal, it also comes from our personal tastes and what we like, which we wanted the film to have.
PR: Were there any films or filmmakers that influenced your vision for Perfect?
MH: American Honey is something that I was visually inspired by. There were a lot of films, and we did a lot of work on shot listing. It was more about finding interesting ways to shoot things and finding ways to let a scene breathe.
KG: American Honey was a big inspiration for this. Some other films we talked about were Aftersun, Call Me By Your Name, as well as a lot of Paris, Texas and My Own Private Idaho. And there’s this amazing film called Monica. I was inspired by every single frame. Every scene in that film is just a oner. There's something beautiful about letting things play out, almost like being in a theatre and watching a play, where you just set up a wide shot and the actors dictate what kind of shot it becomes.
One of my favourite filmmakers is Andrei Tarkovsky and I love Stalker, which is a film I come back to all the time. I get inspiration from it for these unsettling moments, when you really get to breathe and slowly settle on the character and allow the performance to really take place and make magic in that way.
I'm sure you agree with this Millicent, a lot of our lighting references and the way that we wanted the film to feel was natural and effortless. We wanted our characters and the place to feel very sweaty and hot and uncomfortable because the characters in this film are very unpolished and still figuring themselves out. And we wanted the camera to feel alive.
MH: If you're asking about a specific filmmaker that I was inspired by, it would be Andrea Arnold, because this film is like a slice of life, and Arnold is good at capturing the realism of that. And something we definitely wanted to do with Perfect was let the characters breathe, but also make this feel real. So, we used a lot of handheld shots to make it feel raw and we played on the realism by having the camera drift between people when they are in conversation.
PR: While cinema is a visual medium, music and sound design are important. How did you seek to combine music with the visuals to create the film’s emotional and tonal vibes?
MH: It was important to have music from queer artists and women. A lot of the songs that are in the film are ones that I listen to a lot, and I'm inspired by. We wanted to use music as a way to shape the tone and help carry the emotion of the film too, or just, I suppose, help to bridge the gap. So, we used a few of FKA Twigs’ songs from her latest album EUSEXUA, which I was heavily inspired by. It helped us shape the tone, which is the perfect way to describe it.
I come from a music background where I've worked with music artists, and so, music has definitely shaped the way that I've worked. It was about how we could use music in a way that shifts the scene or, how can we use the music to help us interpret what we're seeing?
Some of those songs and those artists in the film are important to me, and thankfully we had music from Peaches, Mannequin Pussy, Sevdaliza, Shy Girl, and I also put some music by my friends in there as well.
PR: It strikes me that the spatial was an important consideration in Perfect, and I’m particularly interested in how people come to define the space they occupy.
MH: The lake, for example, is not just a lake or a backdrop; it behaves like its own character. When we see Mallory, we are in the lake and are clinging onto this world of hope. I don't want to spoil it too much, but hope within the world and also hope for the relationship between Kai and Mallory. And the less we see Mallory, the less we see the lake.
It was important for us to use the space as a character, but we were also really cognisant of how the space works. For example, Kai’s car that she’s presently living out of, has some of her belongings tucked away in little spaces inside. And we understand that she's on the road with her toothbrush up front, and the back window taped up. She's trying to make it as much of a cosy home as possible, and this directly contrasts with Mallory's space, the cabin, that's artistically chaotic. All of her artwork and pictures are on the walls; there are little sculptures all around and there’s an unmade bed and orange peels all over the place. So, we're definitely using space as a way to unlock different ways of seeing the characters and learn about them too. And Ksusha did a lot of work with how we lit and shot those spaces to help them feel that way.
KG: As Millicent said, the lake is a character and acts like this oasis in the film. So, in terms of cinematography, we wanted that to feel very lush and saturated. We wanted the water to be blue and the leaves to feel really green, compared to the outside world that feels very hot, dry, and orange. That's something that Millicent and I really homed in on, especially with the colour. We would even select just the leaves and make them feel greener, or just the water and make it feel bluer.
There's also something interesting about how spaces change when we see and experience them, and that's something that we also did with the cabin. The first time you see the cabin, it has this cosy and warm feeling. Then, later in the film, as you see the characters’ relationship unfold, we start to see the cabin in a different way. So, that was fun to play with, especially the very last time you see the cabin, which has such a different feeling.
Drawing from personal experiences, it's very interesting how we perceive our homes or the streets that we grew up on, because when you live in that environment, it feels so different versus when you come back and visit. And I know that's a feeling that we wanted to capture in the film.
Perfect premièred at the 2026 SXSW Film Festival.
